System and method for selecting search listing in an internet search engine and ordering the search listings

ABSTRACT

Provided is a keyword advertising system for extracting search listings in response to a search request. The system comprises a memory for storing a search information database; a bid control module selecting a predetermined number of search listings primarily according to the bid amount and an estimated advertising period; a ranking module generating an ordered search result list; and a computation control module computing the advertising period for the received bids. The ranking module orders the selected search listings in the search result list according to the selected search listings&#39; respective bid amounts and the estimated advertising period and the computation control module estimating advertising costs uses the bid amount of the advertiser and average number of clicks information during a predetermined previous period. The computation control module further calculates the estimated advertising period using deposit from the advertiser and the estimated advertising costs. The search information database stores at least one bid received from advertisers, the at least one bid being associated with a cost per click advertising, the each bid being associated with a keyword, a bid amount and a search listing.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of the priornon-provisional patent application Ser. No. 11/568,011 filed on Oct. 17,2006, which claims the benefit of priority from the PCT Application No.PCT/KR2005/001103 filed on Apr. 18, 2005 and Korean Patent ApplicationNo. 10-2004-0026425 filed on Apr. 17, 2004. The disclosures of thenon-provisional patent application Ser. No. 11/568,011, the PCTApplication No. PCT/KR2005/001103 and Korean Patent Application No.10-2004-0026425 are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to keyword advertising system and methodfor extracting search listings in response to a search request. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to keyword advertisingsystem and method for exposing at least one search listing which isextracted in response to the search request, in accordance with anotherstandard data, besides the size of a bid price.

Today, information searches through a communication network are beinggeneralized, together with rapid development in the field ofcommunication networks such as the Internet and the like. A user (asearcher) can obtain necessary information easily anytime and anywhereby using the Internet. In addition, such information searches bring alot of changes to our daily lives.

Therefore, there are developed and suggested various models with respectto types of payments of advertising costs between an operator and anadvertiser. At this time, the operator supports search services forInternet users and the advertiser expresses his/her own information sitethrough a search, thereby obtaining advertising effects.

A general method among the methods for paying advertising costs is toexpose advertiser information and determine advertising costs by a costper click (hereinafter, CPC) method. The CPC method computes advertisingcosts based on the number of connections between a searcher and anadvertiser when the searcher who requests the search clicks advertisinginformation of the advertiser. That is, in the CPC method, informationis exposed and provided in such a manner that advertising information ofthe advertiser who has suggested the highest CPC value (charge amountper click) is displayed on the highest portion of a predetermined searchscreen where searchers can recognize advertising information easily.That is, the CPC method sorts search results in order of the size of CPCprovided by the advertiser and provides the searcher with the sortedsearch results.

However, the CPC method has a problem that only advertising informationof an advertiser who inputs a higher CPC value is preferentiallyextracted or is provided on a display location where it is easy toinduce a click of a searcher. It acts as an element which enables theadvertiser who wants to provide advertising information thereof asresults for the search request to raise a bid price. Thus, heavyadvertising costs may be charged to the advertiser.

In addition, an advertising contract period is not considered in amethod for paying advertising costs by the CPC method. Thus, there is adisadvantage that intention of an advertiser who wants to make along-term advertising contract is not reflected. That is, generally, anadvertising contract of maintaining an advertising period to be long hasa lower bid price. Thus, in a method for exposing advertisinginformation by considering only a bid price, there is anotherdisadvantage that advertising information of the advertiser who has madea long-term advertising contract may be provided to a display locationwhere recognition of searchers is comparatively low.

Furthermore, according to the prior art, a click of advertising searchitems, which are exposed as results of search, and ordering of theselected items are performed on the basis of the same criterion. Thus,there is required a method which can make a balance between profits ofan advertiser associated with Internet search advertising and those of asearcher.

Furthermore, there is required a new type of a model for payingadvertising costs which can appropriately reflect various desires of anadvertiser by applying another criterion besides a bid price andexposing advertising information. In addition, there is also required amodel for charging advertising costs, which can reasonably chargeadvertising costs by enabling the advertising costs for exposed searchlistings to be paid through one time click.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention is conceived to solve the aforementioned problems.Thus, the present invention provides keyword advertising system andmethod which can reflect popularity of search listings and faithfulnessof a corresponding information site by selecting the predeterminednumber of search listings based on a bid price in response to a searchrequest and determining locations of selected search listings in asearch result list based on click through rate.

The present invention also provides keyword advertising system andmethod which can bring better advertising effects to an advertiser whosuggests a high bid price or maintains a long-term advertising contractby extracting search listings and determining locations thereof inaccordance with class values and by providing a searcher with the sortedsearch listings as a result of a search request, in which the classvalue is computed based on a bid price and advertising period.

The present invention also provides keyword advertising system andmethod which enables a reasonable payment by charging an advertiser inaccordance with a click of a searcher with respect to search listingssorted in a search result list and brings economical and effectiveadvertising effects to the advertiser.

In order to achieve the above goals, there is provided a keywordadvertising system extracting search listings in response to a searchrequest, comprising: an interface receiving bid price informationcorresponding to a keyword from advertisers; a search informationdatabase storing search listings associated with the advertisers inassociation with each of the received bid price information; a rankingmodule generating a search result list by referring to the searchinformation database, in response to a search request from a searcher;and a search results providing module providing the searcher with thegenerated search result list; wherein the ranking module generates thesearch result list by performing the steps of: identifying a keywordreceived from the searcher in association with the search request;selecting N of search listings from the at least one search resultlisting corresponding to the identified keyword, based on the bid priceinformation; and ordering the selected search listings in order of clickthrough rate.

Also, there is provided a keyword advertising method extracting searchlistings in response to a search request, comprising the steps of:maintaining a search information database storing bid price informationreceived in correspondence to a keyword in association with searchlistings of advertisers; selecting N of advertisers as successfulbidders with respect to the keyword, based on the bid price informationand predetermined weight; receiving a keyword associated with the searchrequest; generating a search result list by ordering search listingsassociated with the N of advertisers, who are selected as successfulbidders in accordance with the bid price information and the weight inresponse to the received keyword; and providing the searcher with thegenerated search result list.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating schematic configuration of a keywordadvertising system according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating a keyword advertisingsystem 200 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating one example of configuration of a searchinformation database according to the present invention,

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating one example of a method forgenerating a search result list by a ranking module, and

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating one example of a search result listprovided to a searcher;

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating one example of configuration of a keywordadvertising system according to another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating one example of configuration of a searchinformation database for selecting a successful bidder according to thepresent invention,

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating one example of a method forestimating a time when advertising deposit disappears based oninformation on the number of daily clicks, and

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating another example of a search result listprovided to a searcher;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a keyword advertising methodaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method forgenerating a search result list;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of a keywordadvertising method according to the present invention, and

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method forgenerating a search result list; and

FIG. 14 is an inner block diagram of a general purpose computer whichcan be employed in implementing a keyword advertising method accordingto the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, keyword advertising system and method for extracting searchlistings in response to a search request will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

A search listing continuously used herein may be one item of searchresults which are extracted in correspondence to a particular keywordinputted in a search engine and provided to a searcher who has requesteda search. One search listing may include brief information on aninformation site of an advertiser, such as a content title, a contentsummary, a network address, and the like. For example, in FIG. 5, onesearch listing is extracted by keyword ‘cafe’. The search listingincludes a content title, “naver cafeiN”, a network address,“http://cafe.naver.com”, a content summary, and the like. In addition, asearch result list is search results with respect to the search requestof the searcher. Thus, the search result list may be a list of searchlistings provided to the searcher by processing at least one searchlisting in accordance with a predetermined sorting order. At this time,the sorting order is in order to make exposure locations (exposureorder) of extracted search listings different in accordance with aparticular criterion. Thus, the sorting order may be flexibly determinedby an operator of each search engine supporting a search requestservice. In the present embodiment, the sorting order is determined inaccordance with bid price information based on click through rate(hereinafter, CTR) of each search listing or information on advertisingperiod thereof. The click through rate (CTR) is the average number ofclick-throughs per hundred search listing impressions. The click throughrate measures the number of clicks on a search listing in a searchresult list displayed in response to a searcher's search request overthe impression of the search listing.

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating schematic configuration of a keywordadvertising system according to the present invention.

A keyword advertising system 100 extracts the predetermined number ofsearch listings in correspondence to a keyword inputted in a searchengine 110 to request a search. Also, the keyword advertising systemenables the extracted search listings to be sorted in accordance withthe size of the bid price of each search listing. For this, when akeyword is inputted, the keyword advertising system 100 receives bidprice information from an advertiser 130 who wants corresponding searchlistings to be extracted. Also, the keyword advertising system 100generates at least one search listing and provides the generated searchlistings to a searcher 120 who has requested the search. The searchlistings are sorted in order of the size of the bid price.

First, the search engine 110 may be a search program or a search webserver which supports searching operations to access a web sitemaintaining contents materials that the searcher 120 wants to find. Thatis, the search engine 110 serves to save a time in searching forcontents materials and enhance accuracy thereof by providing briefinformation (preferably, search listings of the present invention) onthe advertisers 130 who can provide information what the searcher 120demands, in response to a search request of the searcher 120.Particularly, each of brief information (search listing) includespredetermined link information. Thus, when the searcher 120 clicks briefinformation (search listing) displayed on a terminal 125 by using aninstruction input device such as a mouse, the search engine 110 enablesa connection between the advertiser 130 and the searcher 120. The searchengine 110 can be classified into word-oriented searching andsubject-oriented searching. Herein, in order to achieve the purpose ofthe present invention to display particular search listings, which areextracted in correspondence to the inputted keyword, on a search screenin accordance with a selected criterion, a searching method of thesearch engine 110 is limited to the word-oriented searching. However,this is only for convenience of description and it will be apparent tothose skilled in the related art that technical spirits of the presentinvention is not limited thereto.

The searcher 120 may be an internet user who has the terminal 125 foraccess to the keyword advertising system 100 and generates a searchrequest for an information site of the advertiser 130 who maintainscontents materials that the searcher 120 wants to search, by inputting akeyword into the search engine 110.

The advertiser 130 is, for example, a contents provider (CP) whooperates an information site whose location is designated on a networkby a network address such as an IP address, a URL, a domain, or thelike. Therefore, the advertiser 130 pays predetermined advertising coststo the system operator of the present invention, in accordance with aclick of the searcher 120 with respect to search listings of theinformation site.

The terminal 125 maintains a connection state with the keywordadvertising system 100 through a communication network 140, such as theInternet and the like. The terminal 125 displays at least one searchlisting extracted by searching of the search engine 110 on apredetermined screen. Like above, the terminal 125 may be a generalconcept for terminals with a computing function by mounting apredetermined memory means and a predetermined microprocessor, such asfor example, personal computers, handheld computers, Personal DigitalAssistants (PDA), MP3 players, electric dictionaries, cellular phones,smart phones, and the like.

The keyword advertising system 100 sorts at least one search listingcorresponding to each keyword, on the basis of the predetermined size ofa bid price or the size of a bid price and predetermined weight, inassociation with display of search listings. Particularly, the keywordadvertising system 100 enables advertising costs to be chargedreasonably by charging the advertiser 130 advertising costs for searchlistings provided to the searcher 120 in accordance with a click thereof120 with respect to the provided search listings. Hereinafter,configuration of a keyword advertising system 200 according to thepresent invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the keyword advertising system 200according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The keyword advertising system 200 includes an interface 210, a searchinformation database 220, a list generating mean 230, a computationcontrol module 240, a search results providing module 250 and a chargecontrol module 260.

First, the interface 210 receives bid price information corresponding toa keyword from the advertiser 130. The interface 210 serves to receivebid price information as betting data to determine exposure locations(sorting locations herein) of search listings associated with theadvertisers 130. At this time, bid price information may be informationon a charge amount (an amount that the advertiser 130 can pay)generating when any of search listings extracted in response to a searchrequest is clicked by the searcher 120 using an instruction input deviceof. For example, the charge amount includes unit click cost by one-clickfor search listings of the searcher 120, unit exposure cost by providinga search list to the searcher 120, unit purchase cost by success of atransaction between the advertiser 130 and the searcher 120 who isconnected thereto 130. In the present embodiment, unit click cost is setas a charge amount, which is for convenience of description. Forexample, referring to FIG. 3, there are four pieces of bid priceinformation in correspondence to keyword ‘cafe’ and four search listingsassociated with each of the advertisers 130 are exposed on a searchscreen and await a click of the searcher 120. For example, in case thatthe searcher 120 clicks a search listing associated with advertiser‘naver cafeiN’, advertising costs ‘1000 won’, which is included in bidprice information', is charged to the advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’. Thatis, the interface 210 serves to recognize intention of the advertisers130, based on bid price information. At this time, the advertisers 130want search listings to be extracted in correspondence to an inputtedkeyword. The bid price information includes information on cost perone-click (unit click cost) of the searcher 120 with respect to searchlistings.

The search information database 220 stores search listings associatedwith the advertisers 130 in association with each of inputted bid priceinformation. That is, the search information database 220 serves tostore search listings associated with the advertisers 130 in connectionwith the bid price information and the search listings are generated orreceived at a predetermined point of time. It is because the bid priceinformation is related to extraction of a search listing anddetermination of a sorting location of the extracted search listing. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 3, bid price information ‘1000 won’inputted by the advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’ is stored in association withthe search listing of the advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’. In addition, thesearch information database 220 can store all the bid price informationcorresponding to a keyword which induces extraction of search listings.Thus, all the search listings that can be extracted in correspondence tothe keyword are stored in the search information database 220.Hereinafter, it will be described bid price information inputted andsearch listings extracted in correspondence to the keyword by referringto FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating one example of configuration of a searchinformation database according to the present invention.

In FIG. 3, the predetermined size of bid price information is receivedfrom the advertiser 130 who wants to display a search listing as asearch result in correspondence to the inputted keyword ‘cafe’. Bidprice information received by the interface 210 includes information onthe size of advertising costs generating when an associated searchlisting is clicked by the searcher 120. The search information database220 of FIG. 3 makes search listings associated with advertisers, ‘navercafeiN’, ‘daum cafe’, ‘junjihyun fan cafe’, and ‘two some place’correspond to the keyword ‘cafe’. Also, the search information database220 stores the search listings in association with the respectivelyreceived bid price information. Thus, when the keyword ‘cafe’ isinputted in the search engine 110 to request a search, the searchlistings associated with the advertisers, ‘naver cafeiN’, ‘daum cafe’,‘junjihyun fan cafe’, and ‘two some place’, are determined as searchlistings to be extracted as search results. At this time, the determinedsearch listings may be those of all the advertisers 130 who haveinputted bid price information. Or, the determined search listings maybe N (N≦4) of search listings and N may be set by the system operator.That is, when N is set at ‘2’, search listings to be extracted may belimited to two of search listings in accordance with the size of a bidprice, which is advertisers ‘naver cafeiN’ and ‘daum cafe’, by theranking module 230. This will be described later.

In addition, numerical data inputted as bid price information isassociated with unit click cost corresponding to advertising costscharged to the advertiser 130. The numerical data is a cost to becharged the corresponding advertiser 130 when the searcher 120 clicksthe provided search listing once. For example, bid price informationinputted by the advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’ includes unit click cost of‘1000 won’. Thus, when the searcher 120 clicks the search listingassociated with the extracted advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’, advertisingcosts of 1000 won is charged the advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’ or extractedfrom predetermined advertising deposit of an account associated with theadvertiser ‘naver cafeiN’. As aforementioned, unit exposure cost, unitpurchase cost and the like, besides unit click cost, can be receivedfrom the advertiser 130 as bid price information. At this time, apayment of advertising costs may be performed as same or similarly asthat of unit click cost.

The ranking module 230 generates a search result list by referring tothe search information database 220, in response to a search requestfrom the searcher 120. That is, the ranking module 230 serves togenerate a search result list by extracting the predetermined number ofsearch listings corresponding to a keyword and determine the sortinglocations thereof in the search result list. At this time, the searchresult list may be search results provided to the searcher 120 who hasrequested the search. Also, the search result list displays each of theextracted search listings at respectively different positions inaccordance with the determined sorting locations. Moreover, the sortinglocation is to determine the screen arrangements of search listingswhich will be displayed for the searcher 120. Thus, the sorting locationis determined by considering an actual click connection rate oradvertising period according to exposure locations of search listings.The sorting location causes a difference in recognition of the searcher120 with respect to search listings in accordance with exposurelocations thereof on a screen. Accordingly, there is a difference infrequency of actual connections between the searcher 120 and theadvertiser 130. Generally, in case that at least one search listing isextracted, there is an effect that an actual click connection rate ishigh with respect to a previously displayed search listing andadvertising effects are also enhanced. The ranking module 230 determinessorting locations such that search listings with high bid priceinformation are sequentially displayed from an upper portion of a searchscreen where the actual click connection rate is high. Hereinafter, amethod of generating a search list by the ranking module 230 will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating one example of a method forgenerating a search result list by a ranking module.

First, the ranking module 230 identifies a keyword received from thesearcher 120 in association with a search request (S410). This step S410is a procedure for confirming the keyword inputted in the search engine110 to request a search and recognizing at least one search listingcorresponding to the confirmed keyword from the search informationdatabase 220. The keyword may be a compound word consisting of onesubstantive or a plurality of substantives. In step S410, the rankingmodule 230 may identify a search keyword from a query inputted by user,by analyzing the query and selecting a word from the query if the querycomprises a plurality of words. If there is no matched keyword to theinputted query in the search database, the ranking module 230 may try asynonymous word with the query.

Also, the ranking module 230 selects N of search listings from one ormore search listings corresponding to the identified keyword, based onbid price information (S420). This step S420 is a procedure forcomparing unit click cost of bid price information in extracting N ofsearch listings corresponding to the keyword and for extracting thesearch listings in order of high unit click cost. That is, in extractingsearch listings, the ranking module 230 preferentially extracts a searchlisting of the advertiser 130 who is willing to pay high advertisingcosts. At this time, N is the number of search listings to be selectedand flexibly set by the system operator considering a space of a searchscreen where a search result list is displayed. As aforementioned, itmay be preferable that N is same to the number of search listings whichare stored in the search information database 220 in correspondence tothe inputted keyword. This is in order to bring more advertising profitsto the system operator by extracting the maximum search listings incorrespondence to the keyword.

In the next, the ranking module 230 sorts the search listings in orderof click through rate (hereinafter, CTR) (S430). This step S430 is aprocedure for ordering extracted search listings on a search resultlist, based on ratio of the number of actual clicks versus the number ofexposures of search listings, in order to reflect popularity of thesearcher 120 with respect to search listings. The CTR is computed basedon the number of times that a particular search listing is displayed onthe search result list during a predetermined previous period (thenumber of exposures) and the number of times that there is a connectionbetween the searcher 120 and the advertiser 130 by a valid click (aclick inducing an actual connection) with respect to the particularsearch listing. The higher the CTR, the better popularity of thesearcher 120 or the higher connection probability to an information siteof the advertiser 130 gets.

According to the present invention, the predetermined number of searchlistings is selected based on a bid price and locations of the selectedsearch listings in a search result list are determined based on the CTR.Thus, there is an advantage that it is possible to provide searcherswith search results in which popularity of search listings andfaithfulness of a corresponding information site are reflected.

Hereinafter, a search result list generated by the ranking module 230will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating one example of a search result listprovided to a searcher according to the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, a search result list displays at least onesearch listing, which is extracted in response to a search request, inaccordance with a predetermined sorting order and provides the same tothe searcher 120 as search results for the search request. Asaforementioned, the order of search listings in the search result listis determined in accordance with the CTR of each search listing.Hereinafter, it will be described based on a click rate versus exposureof each search listing stored in the search information database 220 ofFIG. 3.

In case that N is set at ‘4’ by the system operator, the keywordadvertising system 200 of the present invention extracts four searchlistings in order of a high bid price by referring to bid priceinformation which is recorded in FIG. 3. The extracted search listingsare associated with advertisers, ‘naver cafeiN’, ‘daum cafe’, ‘junjihyunfan cafe’ and ‘two some place’. Locations thereof are determined byconfirming the CTR of each search listing. For example, although thesearch listing associated with the advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’ includesthe highest bid price, the CTR thereof is 0.305 which is next to theadvertiser ‘daum cafe’ whose CTR is 0.417. Thus, the search listingassociated with the advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’ ranks a second place in asearch result list, as illustrated in FIG. 5. Also, the sortinglocations are determined such that the search listing associated withthe advertiser ‘daum cafe’ with the highest CTR is displayed in thehighest portion of a search result list.

The present invention provides the searcher 120 with search listingssorted in accordance with the CTR reflecting popularity, as results of asearch request. Thus, there is an advantage that it is possible todisplay the optimum search results that the searcher 120 wants in alocation where the searcher 120 can easily recognize the search results.Also, according to the present invention, the CTR, not an existing bidprice, acts as a decisive element in determining the sorting locations.Thus, there is an effect that it is possible to improve quality of aninformation site of the advertiser 130. That is, according to thepresent invention, search listings to be exposed as search results aredetermined in accordance with bid price information thereof. Thus, thereis an advantage that it is possible to protect profits of advertisers tosome degree. Also, since orders of search listings are determined basedon the CTR, there is another advantage that it is possible to protectbenefits of searchers. Also, according to another embodiment of thepresent invention, it is possible to employ a method of determiningorders of search listings by considering both the CTR and bid price andexposing the same in determined order.

In order to compute the CTR, the keyword advertising system 200 of thepresent invention further includes the computation control module 240.That is, the computation control module 240 serves to compute the CTR ofa search listing which is sorted in each search result list. At thistime, the CTR may be computed based on the number of valid clicks of thesearcher with respect to search listings versus the number of selectionsthereof for ordering the search listings in a search result list. Thatis, the CTR is computed by ratio of the number that a particular searchlisting is provided to the searchers as search results and the numberthat the provided search listing is clicked by searchers. If searchersclick the particular search listing, the searchers can access the website of the corresponding advertiser. Through this, it is possible toestimate popularity for the information site of the advertiser 130. Atthis time, the number of valid clicks which are associated withcomputation of the CTR may be defined as the number of clicks of thesearcher 120, which generate before or after a load time, by using apredetermined time, for example, the load time. The load time is a timetaken until information of the information site is displayed on theterminal 125 of the searcher 120 after the click. That is, in case thatthe searcher 120 inputs a first click with respect to the particularsearch listing and later inputs a second click with respect to the same,the computation control module 240 determines the second click to beinvalid and does not count. Thus, it is possible to compute the accurateCTR by adding up only a click of the searcher 120 generating advertisingeffects. Also, there is another effect that it is possible to charge theadvertiser 130 more reasonably in computing advertising costs withrespect to each of search listings.

Referring to FIG. 2 again, the search results providing module 250provides the searcher 120 with a generated search result list. That is,the search results providing module 250 serves to display the generatedsearch result list on the terminal 125 of the searcher 120 as searchresults, in response to a search request of the searcher 120 (refer toFIG. 5).

That is, the present invention extracts the predetermined number ofsearch listings in accordance with the size of a bid price, sorts theextracted search listings in accordance with the CTR and then providesthe searcher 120 with the sorted search listings. Thus, there is aneffect that it is possible to display the optimum search listing thatthe searcher 120 wants in an upper portion.

Hereinafter, as another embodiment of the present invention, it will bedescribed that predetermined advertising costs generate per unit clickfor a particular search listing and the generated advertising costs arecharged to the advertiser 130.

For this, the keyword advertising system 200 of the present inventionmay further include the charge control module 260.

That is, the charge control module 260 generates advertising costsinformation in response to a click of the searcher 120 with respect tothe search listings which are sorted in the search result list. That is,the charge control module 260 serves to determine advertising costs tobe charged in accordance with a click of the searcher 120. For example,the charge control module 260 enables charging process to be completedby subtracting unit click cost from advertising deposit of an account,in interoperation with one-click of the searcher 120. At this time,advertising costs to be subtracted may be unit exposure cost by exposingsearch listings in a search result list or unit purchase cost by a clickof the searcher 120 for substantial purchase, besides the aforementionedunit click cost.

The present invention charges the advertiser 130 advertising costs inaccordance with a click of the searcher 120 with respect to searchlistings of a search result list. Thus, there is an advantage that it ispossible to charge the advertiser 130 more reasonably and to bring moreeconomical and effective advertising effects to the advertiser 130.

In the present embodiment, advertising costs generate at a point whenone-click of the searcher 120 with respect to search listings iscompleted. However, this is only one embodiment of the presentinvention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the related art thatadvertising costs may generate at various points. For example, in casethat unit exposure cost or unit purchase cost is included in bid priceinformation, advertising costs may generate at a point when searchlistings are exposed or at a point when a predetermined purchase buttonis clicked by the searcher using an instruction input device or thelike.

Hereinafter, as another embodiment of the present invention, it will bedescribed that an advertising period of each search listing isconsidered in extracting and ordering search listings, besides a bidprice. For this, a keyword advertising system 600 of the presentinvention may include a search information database 610, a bid controlmodule 620, a computation control module 630, an interface 640, aranking module 650, and a search results providing module 660.

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating one example of configuration of a keywordadvertising system according to another embodiment of the presentinvention.

First, the search information database 610 stores bid price information,which is received in correspondence to a keyword, in association withsearch listings of the advertisers 130. For example, the searchinformation database 610 serves to receive predetermined bid priceinformation from at least one advertiser 130 through the interface 640.Also, the search information database 610 serves to store the receivedbid price information in association with search listings associatedwith the advertisers 130. That is, information recorded in the searchinformation database 610 includes at least one piece of bid priceinformation corresponding to one keyword and search listing associatedwith the advertiser 130 who inputs bid price information, in which thebid price information and the search listing are related to each other.Through this, it is possible to recognize information with respect to akeyword associated with extraction of search listings, extractablesearch listings and the like.

The bid control module 620 selects N of advertisers 130 as successfulbidders based on bid price information and predetermined weight, incorrespondence to a keyword. The bid control module 620 serves to giverankings to the advertisers 130 who input bid price information incorrespondence to the keyword, based on a predetermined criterion. Also,the bid control module 620 serves to select advertisers 130 who areincluded within Nth rankings. At this time, the weight is a variableelement in determining rankings of the advertisers 130. For example, theweight may be popularity of an information site of the advertiser 130,Unique Visitor (UV) to the information site and Return On Investment(ROI), and the like. The weight may be flexibly set by the systemoperator. In the present embodiment, the weight may be information onadvertising period of search listings of the advertisers 130. That is,the predetermined criterion to determine rankings of the advertisers 130may be set by a computing combination of bid price information andadvertising period of search listings. Hereinafter, it will be describedthat a successful bidder is determined among a plurality of advertisers130 by the bid control module 620.

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating one example of configuration of a searchinformation database for selecting a successful bidder according to thepresent invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, the search information database 610 includesat least one piece of bid price information corresponding to a keywordand search listings associated with each of the bid price information.Also, the search information database 610 stores information on anadvertising period of each search listing. The advertising period can beused in determining a successful bidder among advertisers 130 by the bidcontrol module 620. The successful bidder by the bid control module 620is determined, for example, in accordance with a class value which isgiven by multiplication of a bid price and advertising period. N ofadvertisers 130 are determined as successful bidders 130, which is inorder of a high class value with respect to each of search listings. Forexample, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the bid price inputted by theadvertiser ‘naver cafeiN’ is ‘1000 won’ and the advertising period ofthe relevant search listing is ‘12 weeks’. Thus, a class value given tothe advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’ is ‘12,000’ (=12×1000). The ‘12,000’ isstored. In the same way, the class value can be given to each ofadvertisers 130. Thus, the bid control module 620 selects successfulbidders in order of a high class value, which is in order of theadvertisers, ‘naver cafeiN’, ‘two some place’, ‘daum cafe’, and‘jujinhyun fan cafe’.

Information on such advertising period is received directly from theadvertiser 130 or generated by estimating a period until predeterminedadvertising deposit disappears. Hereinafter, an embodiment relatedthereto will be described.

First, in case that information on advertising period is receiveddirectly from the advertiser 130, the keyword advertising system 600 ofthe present invention transmits a user interface for inputting theadvertising period, to a terminal (not illustrated) of the advertiser130. Also, the keyword advertising system 600 receives information onadvertising period, for example, through the interface 640. Theinformation on advertising period generates when the advertiser 130inputs a predetermined numerical value in the transmitted userinterface. In the present embodiment, information on the advertisingperiod of a search listing associated with the advertiser 130 isreceived directly from the advertiser 130. Thus, there is an effect thatthe advertiser 130 can change/set the advertising period flexibly andaggressively.

In the meantime, in case that information on advertising period isgenerated by estimating a period until advertising deposit disappears,the keyword advertising system 600 of the present invention maintainsinformation on the number of daily clicks by each location on a searchresult list and computes estimated daily advertising costs with respectto each of locations, based on the information on the number of dailyclicks. That is, the keyword advertising system 600 can estimate a timewhen advertising deposit disappears by analyzing a tendency that theadvertising deposit of an account associated with the advertiser 130 isbeing subtracted. Thus, the keyword advertising system 600 generatesinformation on advertising period using a period from a time when acorresponding search listing is displayed in a search result list forthe first time to the estimated time when the advertising depositdisappears. The keyword advertising system 600 stores the generatedinformation on advertising period in the search information database610. In order to compute the information on advertising period, thekeyword advertising system 600 of the present invention further includesthe computation control module 630. That is, the computation controlmodule 630 computes information on advertising period for which thesearch listings associated with the advertisers 130 are maintained in asearch result list. Hereinafter, computing of information on advertisingperiod by the computation control module 630 will be described withreference to FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating one example of a method forestimating a time when advertising deposit disappears based oninformation on the number of daily clicks.

First, the computation control module 630 identifies a location of asearch listing associated with the advertiser 130 in a search resultlist (S810). This step S810 is a procedure for recognizing an exposurelocation on a search result list with respect to a particular searchlisting. For example, the location of the search listing associated withthe advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’ of which a class value is highest isdetermined to be in the highest portion of a search result list (referto FIG. 9).

Also, the computation control module 630 recognizes information on thenumber of daily clicks with respect to the identified location, througha predetermined memory means 635 (S820). This step S820 is a procedurefor confirming the number of average daily clicks with respect to theparticular location during a predetermined period. For example, a modulefor computing the number of clicks (not illustrated) computes the numberof valid clicks (the number of clicks causing an actual connection)generating in a particular location during one month (or one year, oneweek, one day, etc). The module also generates information on the numberof daily clicks by dividing the number of measured valid clicks by ameasured period. For example, in computing the number of average dailyclicks in FIG. 9 in association with the search listing of theadvertiser ‘naver cafeiN’, the module measures the number of total validclicks, ‘1,500 times’, during ‘30 days’, and generates information onthe number of daily clicks, ‘50 times’, by averaging the above. Thus,the generated information on the number of daily clicks is stored in thememory means 635. The information on the number of daily clicks can beupdated every period. The period may be set by the system operator.Also, the updated information on the number of daily clicks can bestored in the memory means 635. Thus, it is possible to appropriatelyreflect a tendency of the number of valid clicks with respect to searchlistings.

In the next, the computation control module 630 computes estimated dailyadvertising costs by applying bid price information of the advertiser130 to information on the number of daily clicks (S830). This step S830is a procedure for computing estimated daily advertising costs, whichare estimated to be subtracted a day, by multiplying the information onthe number of daily clicks by bid price information. For example, inFIG. 7, bid price information inputted by the advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’is ‘1,000 won’. Thus, estimated daily advertising costs ‘50,000 won’ iscomputed by multiplying ‘1,000won’ by ‘50’ which is information on thenumber of daily clicks generated in the step S830.

In the next, the computation control module 630 divides predeterminedadvertising deposit by the computed estimated daily advertising costs(S840). This step S840 is a procedure for computing a period (anadvertising period) for which a corresponding search listing ismaintained in a search result list, based on advertising depositinformation first inputted by the advertiser 130. The advertising periodis computed by dividing advertising deposit of an account associatedwith the advertiser 130 by the estimated daily advertising costscomputed in the step S830. For example, in case that advertising deposit‘500,000’ is maintained in an account associated with the advertiser‘naver cafeiN’ and estimated daily advertising costs for the searchlisting are ‘50,000’, the number of days computed as an advertisingperiod is 10 days (500,000/50,000).

That is, the advertising period of each search listing is automaticallycomputed based on the size of advertising deposit which is received fromthe advertiser 130. Thus, there is an effect that it is possible toreduce inconvenience which may be caused by directly inputting theadvertising period. Moreover, in case that the advertiser 130 wants toadjust/change the advertising period, it is possible to control theadvertising period by changing (additional payment or withdrawal) avalue of advertising deposit maintained in an account.

Referring to FIG. 6 again, the interface 640 receives a keyword inassociation with a search request. That is, the interface 640 serves toreceive a keyword from the searcher 120 to request a search. Forexample, the interface 640 recognizes the keyword of the searcher 120inputted in the search engine 110. The keyword is an important elementin determining search listings extracted from the search informationdatabase 610 as search results. Particularly, the interface 640 mayinclude the user interface provided to the advertiser 130, in connectionwith payment of advertising deposit to an account associated with theadvertiser 130. The user interface controls corresponding advertisingdeposit to be received to an account which is allocated to theadvertiser 130 in interoperation with payment of advertising deposit ofthe advertiser 130. For example, in order to pay advertising deposit‘500,000 won’ to an account associated with the advertiser ‘navercafeiN’, ‘500,000’ or numerical data enabling accumulated advertisingdeposit to be ‘500,000’ must be inputted into the user interfaceprovided to the advertiser 130.

The ranking module 650 sorts search listings associated with N ofadvertisers 130, which are selected as successful bidders in accordancewith bid price information and predetermined weight in response to thereceived keyword. In the next, the ranking module 650 generates a searchresult list. That is, while the ranking module 650 generates a searchresult list by extracting search listings of successful advertisers 130,it 650 serves to determine the location of each extracted search listingin a search result list. The ranking module 650 determines the locationin accordance with the size of a class value which is given to each ofsearch listings. At this time, the ranking module 650 may enable searchlistings with high class values to be provided sequentially from anupper portion of a search screen. That is, the ranking module 650computes the class values by applying information on advertising periodto bid price information and generates a search result list by orderingsearch listings of the advertisers 130 in accordance with the computedclass values. Thus, there is an effect that it is possible to faithfullyimplement the purpose of the present to provide the searcher 120 with asearch result list in which search listings considering both bid priceinformation and information on advertising period are extracted, sortedand exposed by the ranking module 650. A search result list will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating another example of a search result listprovided to a searcher according to the present invention.

In a search result list of FIG. 9, search listings extracted in responseto a search request are sorted in order. Also, search listingsassociated with the advertisers 130, which are determined as successfulbidders by the bid control module 620, are extracted and sortedsequentially. That is, the order of each search listing is determined inaccordance with a class value which is given thereto. Hereinafter, theorder of each search listing will be described based on a class valuethereof which is stored in the search information database 610 in FIG.7.

In case that N is set at ‘4’ by the system operator, the keywordadvertising system 600 of the present invention extracts four searchlistings in order of a high class value by referring to bid priceinformation and information on advertising period recorded in FIG. 7.Accordingly, search listings associated with the advertisers, ‘navercafeiN’, ‘two some place’, ‘daum cafe’, and ‘junjihyun fan cafe’ areextracted sequentially. After this, the ranking module 650 determineslocations in order of the extracted search listings and generates asearch result list by displaying a corresponding search listing in acorresponding exposure location. For example, the class value of thesearch listing associated with the advertiser ‘naver cafeiN’ is ‘12,000’and highest. Thus, the search listing associated with the advertiser‘naver cafeiN’ is first extracted as search results and the locationthereof may be determined to be provided in the highest portion of asearch result list where an actual click connection rate is high. On theother hand, the class value of the search listing associated with theadvertiser ‘junjihyun fan cafe’ is ‘3,600’ and lowest among thesuccessful advertisers 130. Thus, the search listing associated with theadvertiser ‘junjihyun fan cafe’ is last extracted and the locationthereof may be determined to be provided to the lowest portion of asearch result list where an actual click connection rate is low.

The present invention sorts search result listings in accordance withclass values which are computed based on a bid price and advertisingperiod. Also, the present invention provides the searcher 120 with thesorted search listings as search results. Thus, there is an effect thatit is possible to bring excellent advertising effects to the advertiser130 who maintains a high bid price or a long-term advertising contract.

Referring to FIG. 6 again, the search results providing module 660provides the searcher 120 with the generated search result list. Thesearch results providing module 660 serves to display the generatedsearch result list on the terminal 125 of the searcher 120 as searchresults, in response to a search request (refer to FIG. 9).

The present invention determines the predetermined number of advertisers130 as successful bidders based on the size of a bid price andadvertising period. Also, the present invention sequentially extractssearch listings of the successful advertisers 130 in order ofpredetermined class values in response to a search request. Thus, thereis an effect that it is possible to determine an exposure locationreasonably by bidding process. According to the prior art, since thereis a time gap until advertising of a new advertiser starts afteradvertising of an existing advertiser ends, a search service providercannot charge the advertiser advertising costs during the correspondingperiod. That is, the search service provider has to take disadvantage oflosing potential profits. Accordingly, if possible, the longer theadvertising period, the more profitable to the search service provider.The present invention improves the possibility that advertising of theadvertiser making a long-term advertising contract may be exposed in anupper portion in search results. Thus, advertisers prefer long-termadvertising and search advertising providers can obtain potentialprofits which may have been lost in the prior art.

Also, the keyword advertising system 600 of the present embodiment mayfurther include the charge control module 260. The charge control module260 generates predetermined advertising costs in accordance with a clickfor a particular search listing in a search result list and charges theadvertiser 130 the generated advertising costs. The description relatedthereto will be as same as the aforementioned. Meanwhile, throughgeneration of advertising costs and charging by the charge controlmodule 260, the present invention enables a reasonable charge paymentand brings more economical and effective advertising effects to theadvertiser 130.

Operation flows of the keyword advertising system 200 such configuredaccording to the present invention will be fully described.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a keyword advertising methodaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The keyword advertising method according to the present embodiment isperformed by the aforementioned keyword advertising system 200.

First, the keyword advertising system 200 receives bid price informationcorresponding to a keyword from the advertisers 130 (S1010). This stepS1010 is a procedure for receiving bid price information from each ofthe advertisers 130. The bid price information is associated withextraction of search listings and computation of advertising costs. Forexample, in case that a click is performed with respect to the extractedsearch listings, the interface 210 receives bid price information as anamount that the advertisers 130 can pay. Also, in this step S1010, thekeyword advertising system 200 may further receive information on akeyword for which bid price information participates in a bid. Thus, itis guaranteed that the advertisers 130 can actively select a keywordassociated with extraction of search listings.

Also, the keyword advertising system 200 maintains the searchinformation database 220 for storing search listings associated with theadvertisers 130 (S1020). This step S1020 is a procedure for storingsearch listings in association with each of the received bid priceinformation. In this step, search listings of the advertisers 130 arestored in the search information database 220 to make a connectionbetween bid price information and a keyword causing the search listingsto be extracted (refer to FIG. 3).

In the next, the keyword advertising system 200 generates a searchresult list by referring to the search information database 220, inresponse to a search request from the searcher 120 (S1030). This stepS1030 is a procedure for generating a search result list by extractingsearch listings corresponding to a keyword received from the searcher120 to request a search and ordering the extracted search listings inpredetermined order. Particularly, in this step S1030, the keywordadvertising system 200 generates a search result list by extracting thepredetermined number of search listings based on the size of a bid priceand sequentially ordering the extracted search listings based on theCTR. Hereinafter, generation of a search result list will be describedwith reference to FIG. 11.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method forgenerating a search result list according to the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 11, the keyword advertising system 200 identifiesa keyword received from the searcher 120 in association with a searchrequest (S1031). This step S1031 is a procedure for confirming a keywordreceived on the search engine 110 to request a search and recognizing atleast one search listing corresponding to the confirmed keyword from thesearch information database 220.

Also, the keyword advertising system 200 selects N of search listingsfrom the at least one search listing corresponding to the confirmedkeyword, based on bid price information (S1032). This step S1032 is aprocedure for comparing unit click cost of bid price information andextracting search listings in order of high unit click cost inextracting N of search listings corresponding to the keyword. That is,the keyword advertising system 200 preferentially extracts searchlistings of the advertisers 130 who are willing to pay high advertisingcosts in extracting search listings. At this time, N is the number ofsearch listings to be selected and flexibly set by the system operatorconsidering a space of a search screen where a search result list isdisplayed.

In the next, the keyword advertising system 200 generates a searchresult list by ordering the selected search result listings in order ofthe CTR (S1033). This step S1033 is a procedure for ordering extractedsearch listings on a search result list, based on ratio of the number ofactual clicks versus the number of exposures of search listings, inorder to reflect popularity of the searcher 120 with respect to searchlistings.

According to the present invention, the predetermined number of searchlistings is selected based on a bid price and locations of the selectedsearch listings in a search result list are determined based on the CTR.Thus, there is an advantage that it is possible to provide searcherswith search results in which popularity of search listings andfaithfulness of a corresponding information site are reflected.

Referring to FIG. 10 again, the keyword advertising system 200 providesthe searcher 120 with the generated search result list (S1040). Thisstep S1040 is a procedure for displaying the search result list, whichis generated in response to a search request of the searcher 120, on theterminal 125 thereof 120 (refer to FIG. 5).

In extracting the predetermined number of search listings based on thesize of a bid price in response to a search request, the presentinvention provides the searcher 120 with search listings, which aresequentially extracted in accordance with the CTR, as results of thesearch request. Thus, there is an advantage that it is possible todisplay the optimum search results that the searcher 120 wants in alocation where the searcher 120 can easily recognize the search results.

Hereinafter, as another embodiment of the present invention, it will bedescribed that search listings are extracted and locations thereof aredetermined by considering the advertising period of each searchlistings, besides the bid price thereof.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a keywordadvertising method according to the present invention.

First, the keyword advertising system 600 maintains the searchinformation database 610 for storing bid price information, which isreceived in correspondence to a keyword, in association with searchlistings of advertisers 130 (S1210). This step S1210 is a procedure forstoring the received bid price information in association with each ofsearch listings. In this step, search listings of the advertisers 130are stored in the search information database 610 to make a connectionbetween bid price information and a keyword causing the search listingsto be extracted (refer to FIG. 7).

Also, the keyword advertising system 600 selects N of advertisers 130 assuccessful bidders, based on bid price information and predeterminedweight with respect to a keyword (S1220). This step S1220 is a procedurefor giving rankings to the advertisers 130 who input bid priceinformation in correspondence to a keyword, based on a predeterminedcriterion and selecting the advertisers 130 included within Nth rankingsas successful bidders. At this time, the weight is a variable element indetermining rankings of the advertisers 130. In the present embodiment,the weight may be information on advertising period of search listingsassociated with the advertisers 130. That is, the predeterminedcriterion to determine rankings of the advertisers 130 is the size of aclass value which is computed by a computing combination of bid priceinformation and advertising period of search listings. The keywordadvertising system 600 determines the advertiser 130 with a high classvalue as a successful bidder.

In the next, the keyword advertising system 600 receives a keyword inassociation with a search request (S1230). This step S1230 is aprocedure for receiving a keyword from the searcher 120 to request asearch. The keyword advertising system 600 recognizes the keyword of thesearcher 120 inputted in the search engine 110.

Also, the keyword advertising system 600 generates a search result listby ordering search listings associated with the N of the advertisers130, which are selected as successful bidders in accordance with bidprice information and weight, in response to the received keyword(S1240). This step S1240 is a procedure for determining the location ofeach extracted search listing in a search result list in generating asearch result list by extracting the search listings. The location isdetermined in accordance with the size of a class value which is givento each of search listings. Search listings with high class values areconfigured to be sorted sequentially from an upper portion of a searchscreen. Hereinafter, a method of generating a search result list will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 13.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a method forgenerating a search result list.

First, the keyword advertising system 600 computes a class value withrespect to each of search listings associated with the advertisers 130by applying information on advertising period to bid price information(S1241). This step S1241 is a procedure for setting weight asinformation on advertising period of search listings associated with theadvertisers 130 and computing a class value by applying the advertisingperiod corresponding to the search listing to the bid price stored inthe search information database 610. The information on advertisingperiod is received directly from the advertisers 130 or generated byestimating a period until predetermined advertising deposit disappears.The description related thereto will be as same as aforementioned.

Also, the keyword advertising system 600 sequentially sorts searchlistings associated with the advertisers 130 in accordance with thecomputed class values (S1242). This step S1242 is a procedure forordering search listings sequentially from the highest portion of asearch result list in accordance with the computed class values withrespect to the search listings.

The present invention sorts search listings in accordance with classvalues which are computed based on a bid price and advertising period.Also, the present invention provides the searcher 120 with the sortedsearch listings as search results. Thus, there is an effect that it ispossible to bring excellent advertising effects to the advertiser 130who maintains a high bid price or a long-term advertising contract.

Referring to FIG. 12 again, the keyword advertising system 600 providesthe searcher 120 with the generated search result list (S1250). Thisstep S1250 is a procedure for displaying the generated search resultlist on the terminal 125 of the searcher 120 as search results, inresponse to a search request from the searcher 120 (refer to FIG. 9).

The present invention determines the predetermined number of advertisers130 as successful bidders based on the size of a bid price andadvertising period. Also, the present invention sequentially extractssearch listings of the successful advertisers 130 in order ofpredetermined class values in response to a search request. Thus, thereis an effect that it is possible to determine an exposure locationreasonably by bidding process.

The embodiments of the present invention include computer readable mediaincluding program instructions to implement various operations embodiedby a computer. The media may also include, alone or in combination withthe program instructions, data files, data structures, tables, and thelike. The media and program instructions may be those specially designedand constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they maybe of the kind well known and available to those having skill in thecomputer software arts. Examples of computer-readable media includemagnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape;optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media such asfloptical disks; and hardware devices that are specially configured tostore and perform program instructions, such as read-only memory devices(ROM) and random access memory (RAM). Examples of program instructionsinclude both machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and filescontaining higher level code that may be executed by the computer usingan interpreter.

FIG. 14 is an inner block diagram of a general purpose computer whichcan be employed in implementing a keyword advertising method accordingto the present invention.

The computer system 1400 includes any number of processors 1410 (alsoreferred to as central processing units, or CPUs) that are coupled tostorage devices including primary storage (typically a random accessmemory, or “RAM 1420”), primary storage (typically a read only memory,or “ROM 1430”). As is well known in the art, ROM 1430 acts to transferdata and instructions uni-directionally to the CPU and RAM 1420 is usedtypically to transfer data and instructions in a bi-directional manner.Both of these primary storage devices may include any suitable type ofthe computer-readable media described above. A mass storage 1440 is alsocoupled bi-directionally to CPU and provides additional data storagecapacity and may include any of the computer-readable media describedabove. The mass storage 1440 may be used to store programs, data and thelike and is typically a secondary storage medium such as a hard diskthat is slower than primary storage. A specific mass storage device suchas a CD-ROM 1460 may also pass data uni-directionally to the CPU.Processor 1410 is also coupled to an interface 1450 that includes one ormore input/output devices such as such as video monitors, track balls,mice, keyboards, microphones, touch-sensitive displays, transducer cardreaders, magnetic or paper tape readers, tablets, styluses, voice orhandwriting recognizers, or other well-known input devices such as, ofcourse, other computers. Finally, processor 1410 optionally may becoupled to a computer or telecommunications network using a networkconnection as shown generally at a network interface 1470. With such anetwork connection, it is contemplated that the CPU might receiveinformation from the network, or might output information to the networkin the course of performing the above-described method steps. Theabove-described devices and materials will be familiar to those of skillin the computer hardware and software arts.

The hardware elements above may be configured to act as one or moresoftware modules for implementing the operations of this invention.

The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the presentinvention have been presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteaching.

Therefore, it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined bythe claims appended thereto and their equivalents.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with theembodiment of the present invention illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, it is not limited thereto since it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that various substitutions, modifications and changesmay be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of theinvention.

According to the present invention, there are provided keywordadvertising system and method which can reflect popularity of searchlistings and faithfulness of a corresponding information site byselecting the predetermined number of search listings based on a bidprice in response to a search request and determining locations ofselected search listings in a search result list based on click throughrate.

Also, according to the present invention, there are provided keywordadvertising system and method which can bring better advertising effectsto an advertiser who suggests a high bid price or maintains a long-termadvertising contract by extracting search listings and determininglocations thereof in accordance with class values and by providing asearcher with the sorted search listings as a result of a searchrequest, in which the class value is computed based on a bid price andadvertising period.

Also, according to the present invention, there are provided keywordadvertising system and method which enables a reasonable payment bycharging an advertiser in accordance with a click of a searcher withrespect to search listings sorted in a search result list and bringseconomical and effective advertising effects to the advertiser.

Also, according to the present, a selection of an advertising searchresult list to be exposed as search results and ordering thereof can beperformed in accordance with respectively different criteria. Thus, itis possible to make a balance between profits of an advertiserassociated with Internet search advertising and those of a searcher.

Also, according to the present invention, since a search listing isdetermined in accordance with a bid price, it is possible to protectprofits of an advertiser to some degree. At the same time, it is alsopossible to protect profits of a searcher by determining order of searchlistings in accordance with click through rate.

Also, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve thepossibility that advertising of an advertiser making a long-termadvertising contract may be exposed in an upper portion as searchresults. Thus, advertisers prefer long-term advertising and searchadvertising providers can obtain potential profits which may have beenlost in the prior art.

1. A keyword advertising system extracting search listings in responseto a search request, the system comprising: memory storing a searchinformation database, said search information database storing at leastone bid received from advertisers, said at least one bid beingassociated with a cost per click advertising, said each bid beingassociated with a keyword, a bid amount and a search listing; a bidcontrol module selecting a predetermined number of search listingsprimarily according to said bid amount and an estimated advertisingperiod; one or more processors for processing data; a ranking modulegenerating an ordered search result list, said ranking module orderingsaid selected search listings in said search result list according tosaid selected search listings' respective bid amounts and said estimatedadvertising period; and a computation control module computing saidadvertising period for said received bids, said computation controlmodule estimating advertising costs using said bid amount of saidadvertiser and average number of clicks information during apredetermined previous period, said computation control modulecalculating said estimated advertising period using deposit from theadvertiser and said estimated advertising costs.
 2. A keywordadvertising method extracting search listings in response to a searchrequest, the method comprising the steps of: maintaining a searchinformation database, said search information database storing at leastone bid received from advertisers, said at least one bid beingassociated with a cost per click advertising, said each bid beingassociated with a keyword, a bid amount and a search listing; computingan estimated advertising period of said at least one bid; selecting apredetermined number of search listings primarily according to said bidamount and estimated advertising period; receiving search requestassociated with a keyword from a searcher; ordering said selected searchlistings in said search result list according to said selected searchlistings' respective bid amounts and said estimated advertising period;and displaying said ordered search listings on a display, wherein thesteps of selecting and of ordering are performed by a server including aprocessor, and the step of computing an estimated advertising periodcomprising the steps of: estimating advertising costs using said bidamount of said advertiser and average number of clicks informationduring a predetermined previous period; and calculating said estimatedadvertising period using deposit from the advertiser and said estimatedadvertising costs.
 3. One or more storage media having stored thereon acomputer program that, when executed by one or more processors, causesthe one or more processors to perform acts including: maintaining asearch information database, said search information database storing atleast one bid received from advertisers, said at least one bid beingassociated with a cost per click advertising, said each bid beingassociated with a keyword, a bid amount and a search listing; computingan estimated advertising period of said at least one bid; selecting apredetermined number of search listings primarily according to said bidamount and estimated advertising period; receiving search requestassociated with a keyword from a searcher; ordering said selected searchlistings in said search result list according to said selected searchlistings' respective bid amounts and said estimated advertising period;and displaying said ordered search listings on a display, wherein thestep of computing an estimated advertising period comprising the stepsof: estimating advertising costs using said bid amount of saidadvertiser and average number of clicks information during apredetermined previous period; and calculating said estimatedadvertising period using deposit from the advertiser and said estimatedadvertising costs.